I posted this about a month ago in the hostedscripts forum. Bob never replied to it, despite my nagging him about it at AXNY, so I figured I'd try again over here. :-)
I just read all of DW II yesterday and today -- I like it very much! (Found out about it from the Eyrie forum; Gryphon's pause in SoS has lead to some exploring outward...)
If I understood the mechanics of Doug's songpower correctly, the first time he hears the song he can tell whether it's going to trigger his powers, but he can't tell what particular power it's going to be. The second and subsequent times, the power activates.
However, it seems like there are likely to be a number of songs that trigger powers that are only useful in specialized circumstances. So does it sometimes happen that a song doesn't seem to do anything the second time it's played, but still is obviously triggering? How does Doug handle this?
I thought of this because it seems like there are a number of songs that could potentially help him (at least on a localized level, to his area of effect) with his goal of freeing Boomers. There are certainly tons of songs about "Freedom" or casting off slavery -- lots of Sixties stuff, traditional Black spirituals, Rush's "Free Will", etc. Many of these could also likely be useful in Doug's homeworld, as anti-mind control and whatnot. But in the absense of any such condition within Doug's area of effect, it's not clear if the songs would do anything.
Another song along the same lines -- "I Get a Kick Out Of You". Would likely cancel out the effects of intoxicants and other such substances ("I get no kick from champagne/cocaine") with, perhaps, a romantic side-effect.
Another interesting area is non-combat intellectual songs -- skills-boosters, effectively. I was thinking of this when I was going over filk music for songs that could generate powers. I don't know if you're familiar with the Oregon duet Echo's Children (www.echoschildren.org), but two of their songs, "Acts of Creation" and "The Word of God", seem like they'd have the interesting effect of boosting creative or scientific work, respectively -- though they may well be invoking a Power to do it, which I imagine Doug would be exceedingly unconfortable about.
It's out-of-period for Doug, but similarly Andy Eigel's Uplift (www.smacdonald.com/pegasus/songs/uplift.html) seems like a booster of technology/engineering skills, which could have interesting effects.
I just read all of DW II yesterday and today -- I like it very much! (Found out about it from the Eyrie forum; Gryphon's pause in SoS has lead to some exploring outward...)
If I understood the mechanics of Doug's songpower correctly, the first time he hears the song he can tell whether it's going to trigger his powers, but he can't tell what particular power it's going to be. The second and subsequent times, the power activates.
However, it seems like there are likely to be a number of songs that trigger powers that are only useful in specialized circumstances. So does it sometimes happen that a song doesn't seem to do anything the second time it's played, but still is obviously triggering? How does Doug handle this?
I thought of this because it seems like there are a number of songs that could potentially help him (at least on a localized level, to his area of effect) with his goal of freeing Boomers. There are certainly tons of songs about "Freedom" or casting off slavery -- lots of Sixties stuff, traditional Black spirituals, Rush's "Free Will", etc. Many of these could also likely be useful in Doug's homeworld, as anti-mind control and whatnot. But in the absense of any such condition within Doug's area of effect, it's not clear if the songs would do anything.
Another song along the same lines -- "I Get a Kick Out Of You". Would likely cancel out the effects of intoxicants and other such substances ("I get no kick from champagne/cocaine") with, perhaps, a romantic side-effect.
Another interesting area is non-combat intellectual songs -- skills-boosters, effectively. I was thinking of this when I was going over filk music for songs that could generate powers. I don't know if you're familiar with the Oregon duet Echo's Children (www.echoschildren.org), but two of their songs, "Acts of Creation" and "The Word of God", seem like they'd have the interesting effect of boosting creative or scientific work, respectively -- though they may well be invoking a Power to do it, which I imagine Doug would be exceedingly unconfortable about.
It's out-of-period for Doug, but similarly Andy Eigel's Uplift (www.smacdonald.com/pegasus/songs/uplift.html) seems like a booster of technology/engineering skills, which could have interesting effects.